Not so Ordinary Day (Complete)
This could go fine as a one-shot, but it could also play out as a multi-chapter piece. At any rate, at least this part is done so I can finally avoid getting stabbed for not having it complete. Sheesh. Slave drivers....
++++++++++++
The sky was hazy on this day, all in thanks to the thick
cloud cover. Sunlight only shone in odd places where it
could pierce the thick nimbus patchwork that blanketed the
sky.
It was a perfect day for training. Admittedly, that was
not a popular sentiment shared by many. For one whiskered
boy in particular however, it applied.
Naruto Uzumaki was presently in one of his favorites spots
in Konoha. It wasn't Ichiraku's or the very top of the
Hokage Monument that granted a scenic view of the entire
village, but this was a place he could unofficially claim
as his own. In the dense expanse of the hidden valley's
vast forest was a natural glade that he'd come across,
while exploring and it was perfect for training in private.
Pride was something that came packed with Naruto in spades
and it didn't like taking hits by people around him when he
wasn't good at something. It happened pretty often, sure,
but it didn't mean he liked it.
He wasn't afraid of hard work, but he sure as heck wasn't
going to train in the open and expose himself to a
situation where every mistake and failure on his part was
going to be used as fuel to ridicule him.
He'd prove them all wrong in the end though. Once he
attained the status of 'greatest ninja in all of Konoha' he
was going to show everyone that Naruto Uzumaki is not a
total failure and that "dead last" wasn't a tag that was
going to hold him back. He shook his head, quickly
derailing his current line of thought in favor of the
project that lay before him.
Naruto wore many hats, or a goggle in this case, that
described his character and personality to a tee.
Loudmouth, prankster, and general all-purpose troublemaker
extraordinaire were, but a few. Today he was "Naruto,
industrious builder."
A search of the forest had yielded him four fairly sturdy
logs that he'd dragged into the clearing. With a length of
hemp rope that he'd brought with him on this trip, he
busied himself with the task of lashing them together into
the vague semblance of a human figure. On completing that,
he went on to dig a small hole where he could slide the
vertical log into place to keep it steady.
Naruto wiped his sweat soaked brow with the sleeve of his
orange jacket and let out a tired, yet satisfied sigh, as
he gazed at his handiwork. It was taller than him by a
head or two, but it was perfect for the purpose it would
soon be serving. He glanced to his left at two others
projects that'd done him proud.
The first was a single post that jutted out of the ground.
It was about the width of two arms together, the top third
of which was wrapped in rope well worn with heavy use.
Naruto had built it so he could practice how to properly
strike a target with his fist and feet.
Walking up to it, he punched it squarely with a quick right
jab, sending the log reeling backwards, but it soon came
rocketing back at him and he blocked it with his left palm.
He struck it again, this time on its side, with a right
hook. It swung back in counter once more and he dodged it
this time around.
It was basic in design, but he loved the darned thing.
Naruto had wrapped the bottom half of the log with a series
of rubber inner tubes that would allow it to absorb each
blow before bouncing back, which forced him to either
parry, dodge, or counter strike.
He was actually entertaining the idea of attaching kunai to
random areas to up the ante, but that was going to be a
project for another day.
He moved his gaze next to the last training device. There
wasn't much to it at all, just a series of stationary
wooden targets of varying sizes, shapes, and set distances.
Naruto took off his jacket, which was still slick with the
efforts of his earlier exertions, and took a stance. A
quick motion to the bandolier on his leg produced two
shuriken and from a leg pouch he withdrew what looked like
a dagger attached to a length of wire that he used to twirl
it by.
The little instrument was a rope javelin, and it was a
handy little device he used to catch small animals when
he'd have to forage for food, which was why some of the
targets were so small and set low to the ground. The
entire weapon was smooth except for the head, which had a
series of serrated edges to make sure it couldn't be easily
removed. It was attached to a fishing line that led into
an actual spool assembly.
A deft flick of his wrists sent all three flying towards
their intended targets.
The steel bolt flew true with the nearly invisible line
trailing behind it as it punched into the side of a small
target about the size of a rabbit.
One of the four-pronged shuriken viciously imbedded itself
in the human-sized target at around where the throat would
be.
The second one though...
"Noooo!" Naruto howled in horror as he watched his precious
weapon veer into the dense foliage.
He made a move to go and retrieve his wayward tool, but
stopped. Reaching into a small pouch, where the wire from
the bolt fed into, he removed a fishing spool and set it on
the ground so it wouldn't tangle. Naruto then continued on
his "search and rescue" mission like a dutiful ninja.
Waste not, want not was a prudent proverb for the
financially challenged.
------------
Naruto was unaware that his performance of skill and labor
was not without spectator fanfare.
Hinata Hyuuga was a nice, respectable young lady, among
many things, but much to the vexing frustration of her
father, this also included closet voyeur.
Though this was a point of fact that, if pointed out, would
send the poor girl into a profusely crimson fit rife with
weakly sputtered denials and a fainting spell for good
measure.
She rather preferred likening the activity to star gazing
or even bird watching. Since those were more wholesome
analogies and closer to the reasoning in her mind than to
"lecherously leering in an unsavory manner."
Because that just wasn't the case at all.
Really.
From her spot, obscured behind a wide tree, Hinata was able
to cast her longing gaze across the t-shirt clad back of
her object of affection. A delightful tingle ran up her
spine when she caught sight of the boy's intense blue eyes
that were currently scanning hither and thither for his
quarry.
It was hard to say definitively whether this activity was
sadly pathetic, cute on a saccharine level, or disturbing
in some fashion, but what it could be classified as was
being typical.
It was merely an element in another ordinary day in the
Hidden Village of the Leaf and in following the oft-
practiced motions; it was time for Hinata Hyuuga to bid a
silent retreat without word or gesture.
Like always.
She noticed the ominous rumbling and rolling of clouds
overhead. It was a murky mixture of grey and dark grey
with intermittent splotches of black that forecasted
possibly inclement weather.
In the immortal words of a sagely ninja it could only mean,
signal, and possibly be one thing: troublesome.
------------
Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were many things as well.
Acquaintances, then friends, then best friends, then
friendly rivals, and then bitter rivals, finally ending
with them being friends once more, but still retaining the
mark of competitiveness born between their contentions.
At heart they were two very kind girls who cared for each
other. Even if yelling, the occasional hair pulling
session and fisticuffs conveyed meaning that the casual
observer could never quite pick up on. It was because
there was underlying complexity in each gesture that
carried shrouded meaning, intent, and depth that was beyond
simple reckoning.
It took Sakura about a week to come up with that reasoning.
Speaking of 'depth' and its distant phonetic cousin
'death'.
Ino was waging a valiant struggle against introducing her
pink-haired companion to a depth of water for a period of
time until death was achieved. That she didn't was a mind-
boggling testament to how long the road some traveled in
the name of friendship ran, current thoughts of bodily harm
notwithstanding.
It wasn't like Ino hated Sakura, far from it. The girl was
pleasant and they shared a wide range of interests that
made them fast and easy friends. There was just this
small drawback where the girl tended to ramble when she
got on a roll and could go on and on and on and on....
"So then, that's when he said 'You need to practice more
responsibility'" Sakura animatedly related, speaking in a
falsetto when she recanted the lines. "And I was thinking
to myself 'Oh my God. I can't believe he's trying to
lecture me on this' and I tried not to roll my eyes, but he
was all serious and a little mad, so he was breathing kind
of hard through his nose and this like whistling 'fwee'
noise came out of nowhere and I started laughing. So
anyway, that's why he gave me like this twenty page paper
to write on the proper customs of addressing elders and
superiors, but I got that done last night in like an hour
and- is something wrong?" Sakura finally asked, blinking at
Ino.
There was a bit of a pause without reply then, "Who?
What?" Ino said, startled from her mental stupor amid the
sudden and now hanging silence.
"Oh! No, uh, nothing is wrong, really!" She tried to wave
off Sakura's concerns when the girl gave her a worried
frown.
"I was just..."
'Dying. Whimpering. Falling asleep. Wondering if killing
you could be justifiable homicide,' her mind provided her
all at once.
"Wondering if a bit of Naruto had rubbed off on you," Ino
verbally parried with a nervous titter. Proud of that
little comeback, she mentally patted herself on the back.
Sakura wrinkled her nose at the thought, sporting a sour
countenance at the assertion. "I hope not," she shot back
as she rubbed both her cheeks in fear that six prominent
whiskers would soon sprout.
Ino felt a smidge guilty for using the boy as a butt of a
joke like that, but the concern passed as quickly as it had
come. She switched mental gears though by pointing to a
shop down a few stalls on the left. "Want to go check out
the fabric shop?"
"Sure," Sakura said, glad for the change in topic. "No
orange though," she told the blonde, sticking her tongue
out, which made Ino chuckle.
------------
Hinata had ducked into the nearest shop overhang when she
caught sight of Sakura and Ino. It wasn't as if she was
afraid of the pair, but they both possessed strong,
outgoing personalities that set her at unease and made her
feel inadequate. The latter being the greatest issue.
They walked right by her without so much as a glance or
greeting, but that suited Hinata just fine as she caught
the tail end of their discussion regarding Naruto.
There was a slight surge of annoyance at how casually they
referred to him in such a manner, like a joke. It was
slightly depressing that other people didn't quite see him
the way she did. There were times Hinata wished she could
more boldly give voice to her thoughts and opinions like
Naruto could when he wanted himself to be heard by those
around him.
Without care, strong, bold, self-assured, and-
"Interested in one of my fine works, dear?" an aged woman's
voice asked from behind her that caused her to flinch,
startled.
"I-I'm sorry?" Hinata asked embarrassedly, turning to
regard the speaker.
She was short, shorter than Hinata herself, yet not bent
over with age as she sat straight backed on her cushion
with legs pillowed under her. A stirring of wind sent
rebellious grey-white strands of hair loose and aflutter
from the pinned bun on her head, causing her to tut and
push them back behind her ears.
"See anything that catches your eyes?" she asked hopefully,
sweeping her right arm across a wide assortment of
decorated bamboo umbrellas that were arranged around her
shop as she held the frame for a still bare one in her
left.
"Ah, um," Hinata managed. She hadn't really paid attention
to what shop she'd entered and it wasn't as if she was
shopping for umbrellas in general, so...
"I'm just browsing for now," she offered, to which the old
woman nodded.
"This one here," she pointed out, "would suit you well, I
think."
Hinata nodded in agreement with the opinion. It was a soft
array of colors - red, orange, blue, purple - all a shade
you'd catch in the sky just as the sun dipped in the
horizon to make the transition from late afternoon to early
evening.
"Although this one here is a little bigger," the woman
began to say as a mischievous grin split her face, "so you
can fit a special 'friend' underneath as well if you wish."
Hinata admired the orange color, for rather obvious
reasons, but was also fascinated by the characters for the
twelve hand seals that adorned it in black.
When what the shopkeeper was suggesting penetrated her
thoughts, she grew flustered and flushed as she tried to
banish the attractive notion.
A cackle of amusement that scored victory for the old over
youthful innocence rang through the shop, leaving Hinata to
stew in embarrassment.
"Oh, I was blissful and chaste once as well," the old woman
addressed to Hinata, who chose to simply nod.
The thought of what was being suggested sent a hot flash of
thrill through Hinata, but the cold realization of her non-
existent standing with Naruto dampened the feeling, leaving
her feeling rather cheaply hollow.
Reality and realization tended to suck in that way.
Seeing the rather lackluster turn in her customer the woman
broke the silence. "I'll give it to you at half price,
dear," she began, and then on seeing Hinata about to
politely decline the offer, she raised a hand to forestall
it.
"You might want to reconsider," she pointed out, indicating
the soft sheet of precipitation that was beginning to fall
outside. "Your man might appreciate it," she added, to
what she hoped was the money shot.
The woman's words inadvertently directed Hinata's thoughts
to Naruto who might still have been practicing and it
sealed the deal.
"I'll take it."
------------
The staccato of flesh strikes on wood came at a steady,
even beat. It seemed deceptively passive; sounding musical
and rhythmic in nature, but it was what it was.
A knife hand to the side of the neck was followed by a
strike at the windpipe, which led into a swift punch into
the stomach, and then a double palm strike to the chest was
delivered.
Destructive.
It was a practiced sequence of attacks directed at just a
handful of vital points spread across the human body. The
effects of each target varied in degree, but all were
calculated to deliver incapacitation or death.
Such was the Way of the Ninja.
Naruto had been at this for over an hour and his hands were
beginning to show signs to vouch for the truthfulness of
the statement. He clenched his hands and hissed as he
discovered an almost inch long sliver of wood that had
driven itself through the side of his hand.
On one hand it was luckily large enough that he wouldn't
need the aid of tweezers to work it out, but that it was
that big was literally a pain.
"Damn it, that hurts!" he whined, after finally ridding
himself of the wood shard. He squeezed it to make sure
he'd gotten all the pieces, which forced more blood to exit
the wound, but a liberal application of spit and a vigorous
shaking of the hand later, it was quickly out of mind.
The sprinkling of moisture from the sky was still like a
light mist, so he figured he could go for a bit longer.
Just twenty minutes more, he promised, and then he'd call
it quits for the day.
------------
Ino parted company with Sakura when the rain began to fall
from the sky. Even if bad weather hadn't set in, the
relatively shallow depths of their wallet would've seen a
quick end to their respective shopping escapade. She was
convinced that it was just one of the glaring shortcomings
that would be addressed once they snagged themselves a
significant other.
The thought of growing old and grey with Sakura,
reminiscing about the "good old days" when they were once
young and beautiful made her shudder. Living out her days
as a lonely bachelorette was not an option in Ino
Yamanaka's social plan.
She'd be satisfied as long as her beau was mildly
attractive and housebroken. Ino was sure she possessed
enough skill to mold everything else about him until he
eventually resembled the ideal boyfriend.
Working at a flower shop, she was used to nurturing flowers
until they finally bloomed. So it was rather natural, in
her mind, to think the same of her future significant
other. Was it mentioned that Ino was also a fan of
projects that were a real fixer upper?
Bringing her musings to a brief pause was a droplet of rain
that fell onto her forehead. 'Oh yes, it was raining,
wasn't it?' she mused.
Ino considered her options. She entertained the notion of
sprinting from overhang to overhang, to dodge the brunt of
the rainfall, until eventually reaching home. Using her
charms and wily ways on a lonely male willing to treat her
to a warm drink and food in payment for her company crossed
her mind as well.
Ino crossed them all off as being a hassle, and chose
instead to look for someone who might be open to sharing
cover under an umbrella. A wide grin settled on her face
as she spied a familiar face approaching with uncanny
timing.
"Hey, Hinata, do you think I could--" she cut her request
short as the girl in question whizzed by her in a hurry
without even pause.
Ino blinked. Where could Hinata be going in such a hurry,
she wondered.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," she said aloud,
as she took off in pursuit. That she was getting soaked in
chasing Hinata became a trivial matter as quenching the
thirst of her curiosity became her top priority.
Hinata Hyuuga didn't know it yet, but she was caught in the
deadly crosshairs of an unrepentant gossipmonger and
unabashed meddler.
------------
By the time Hinata had returned to the clearing, the light
rain had escalated to a healthy downpour that had sent most
of the denizens of Konoha scurrying for the warm covers of
their respective homes.
'He can't still be here,' Hinata thought to herself as she
hurried towards the clearing, wondering why she herself
wasn't back comfortably under the roof of her own home.
The answer to that was simple though, requiring no real
thought - she just had to make sure.
And it was a good thing, she told herself as she spied
Naruto still standing in front of his wooden opponent.
His shoulders were slumped, he was drenched from head to
toe, but what worried her slightly was that he wasn't
really moving from his spot. He simply stood there in the
pouring rain and swayed unsteadily on his foot.
Concern won a quick, decisive battle over nervousness and
indecision as she found herself already just a few steps
behind the boy.
"N-Naruto?" she asked the rooted figure. Hinata wondered
for a moment if her soft voice had even carried over the
sound of the falling rain.
She moved to stand in front of him and she could finally
see that he was breathing heavily with soggy hair veiling
most of his features. In an uncharacteristically bold
move, she placed a hand on his shoulder and his eyes
fluttered open, focusing on her.
A detached portion of her mind marveled at how much
prettier they were when up close, but her addled mind spit
out a series of gibberish nonsense that she hoped sounded
like 'Are you okay?'.
Hinata stopped speaking when he flashed a weak smile, but
squawked in shock when his head lolled forward to rest
against her chest.
"Lied. More than twenty minutes..." he mumbled out, which
made no sense to Hinata, but at that point nothing made any
sense whatsoever.
Her umbrella had been dropped in favor of her current
burden, but now she was left to ponder what to do.
"Na-Naruto?" she asked.
He proved uncooperative to her efforts as he simply kept
his head against her-
Hinata turned a shade of red that bordered on burgundy.
"Hyah!" she yelped, as she fought the reflex to fling
Naruto away from her... water soaked...
She couldn't even finish the thought, so great was her
mortification.
"I-I," she stuttered as her legs then chose to wobble under
her and she began to lose her footing beneath Naruto's
weight.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Hinata called out rapidly in panicked
succession as her legs began to slide in the muck, leading
to a slow, meandering collapse that ended with her flat on
her back with the object of her affections atop her and her
legs spread, framing his body, in a lewd and scandalously
wanton fashion.
Hinata whimpered piteously.
Naruto snored softly totally unaware of the girl's plight.
------------
From her perch overhead in the treetops, Ino looked down on
the pair with eyes widened in surprise as she kept both
hands over her mouth so as not to allow a single sound to
escape her lips.
This was big, huge - monumental news!
'Hinata and Naruto!' her mind squealed over and over in
delight. If she wasn't trying to keep herself from being
discovered she'd be shaking in excitement at this juicy
piece of news she'd stumbled across. The feeling of
knowing a secret before anyone else filled her with a warm
and pleasant satisfaction.
She grumbled in silent disappointment, as she wasn't in
earshot to catch what the couple was whispering to each
other. Her eyes eagerly drank deeply of the whole sequence
of events and she had a fairly good idea on how this affair
was playing out.
Hinata approached Naruto and after a brief exchange of
words, he rested his head against her and she wrapped her
arms around him in response. She was hesitant at first,
going so far as to try to push Naruto away, but he was
adamant in his need for her as he gently guided her to the
forest floor where they were currently entangled. Hinata
wrapped her legs around Naruto and they were leading up
to...
The blonde's face took on a scarlet tinge as her mind
continued to progress her thoughts to its inevitable and
natural conclusion. Ino covered her face with her hands,
amazed, and embarrassed, at the boldness that Naruto
exhibited in showing his true feelings for Hinata. It re-
painted the mental image of the boy she had with new and
interesting colors.
There was a short mental argument over whether she should
stay or go now. As much as she wanted to know, she knew it
was wrong to intrude further on a private moment like this.
With that firmly in mind, she leapt away to leave the pair
to conclude their business sans prying eyes.
Ino would never have imagined her little adventure was
going to yield something of this magnitude. Her original
course towards home shifted in the direction of Sakura's.
She just HAD to tell someone about this before she exploded
from the pressure of trying to keep this secret bottled up
without release.
------------
Hinata bravely fought down the wellspring of tumultuous
emotions that was bubbling wildly on the threshold of her
control. Craning her neck slightly, she earned herself an
unobstructed view of Naruto's sleeping face, which made the
breath catch in her throat.
Hinata, being the honest girl that she was, admitted
guiltily that this wasn't an all-together negative
experience. She had a few memorable dreams like this she
recalled, though none had quite played out in the manner
this did.
A twinge of indecision flared inside her as she tentatively
brushed Naruto's golden forelocks. Hinata had never deeply
explored her feelings for him, save that she inevitably
found her eyes constantly drawn to him and that simply
being nearby made her pulse quicken with excitement.
Yet with her heart still enshrouded in turmoil, here she
was, caught in a compromising position with the source of
her consternation pillowed on her bosom. So it was no
wonder that she was caught up in playing hostess to the
conflicting thoughts that occupied her mind.
She closed her eyes and struggled with the effort to regain
a measure of calm. Her ragged breaths evened out and
became smoother as she wrestled extraneous thoughts to the
wayside. The why and the how of her heart weren't as
important as the simple fact that it simply felt the way it
did. The crude answer was: just because.
When she tried to imagine spending time with Naruto, gentle
warmth filled her every being. Imagining a world without
him sent an unpleasant tingle in her chest and formed a
cold lump in her gut. Thinking of the closeness they
shared now made her...
Well, there went the control.
Naruto muttered in his sleep, too garbled for Hinata to
pick anything out, but the movement set her eyes to focus
on his slightly parted lips. It seemed as if it was
intentionally calling to her like a deadly Siren's song.
Hinata found herself inexplicably mesmerized as she slowly
drew closer, inch-by-inch. She felt the touch of his warm
breath on her cheek and it was then that the butterflies in
the pit of her stomach took flight in full force. They
fluttered about wildly and she could've sworn they were
trying to exit through her navel.
The rainstorm lost all momentum and the clouds that
shielded the sky began to break as sunlight finally came
out of hiding to release the warmth that was being held in
check.
------------
Hinata was breathing heavy as she skidded to a halt from
the full out sprint that she'd broken out to. Her
destination was home, but first she needed time to collect
herself lest her father catch her in such a state and begin
asking questions she didn't want to answer.
She was currently swimming in the heady aftereffect of the
bold sequence on her part that surprised even her. It was
as if she'd tapped into a veritable fountain of boldness
that still hummed through her system now.
Dainty fingers were raised to her pink lips. 'Why did
I...?' she wondered, when a hand suddenly clapped her on
the shoulder from behind.
"Yo!" a familiar male voice called out jovially.
Jolting, she quickly turned with her hands placed over her
chest, to see Kiba. Behind him stood Shino and her
instructor Kurenai.
Her heart skipped a beat on seeing them all assembled like
this. 'Do they know?' her irrational mind whispered.
"Sorry," Kiba offered, at catching her so totally unaware.
"N-no, it's okay," she stuttered in assurance.
The nervousness that went beyond casual didn't go beyond
the notice of Shino and Kurenai, but a quirked brow by the
insect manipulator was the only visible indication.
"You seem... flustered," Shino pointed out flatly. His
gaze seemed to pierce through his sunshades, from Hinata's
point of view.
Hinata swallowed as her mouth ran dry. Well, what could
she say to that?
"And seem to be in quite a hurry," Kurenai added.
Hinata laughed uneasily, her voice almost cracking. Yes,
that was true, she granted.
Akamaru barked three times in succession as he sniffed the
air. "And you smell like Naruto?" Kiba said quizzically,
translating the words of the pup perched on his shoulder.
Hinata choked.
Kiba took his own whiff to be certain. "And you DO," he
confirmed, earning an amused look from Kurenai and yet
another raised brow from Shino.
Hinata squeaked.
"You know, I'm always here to talk, if there are things
you're too embarrassed to discuss with your parents,"
Kurenai told her, giving Hinata what she hoped was a
reassuring smile.
It wasn't. Hinata gibbered madly before deciding that
running was the better part of valor.
Taking her right into the metal pole of a street sign.
She wobbled drunkenly on her legs before dropping like a
fallen tree. Three voices called out to her in concern,
but the thought that occupied her mind was why things
weren't playing out like every other ordinary day.
++++++++++++
The sky was hazy on this day, all in thanks to the thick
cloud cover. Sunlight only shone in odd places where it
could pierce the thick nimbus patchwork that blanketed the
sky.
It was a perfect day for training. Admittedly, that was
not a popular sentiment shared by many. For one whiskered
boy in particular however, it applied.
Naruto Uzumaki was presently in one of his favorites spots
in Konoha. It wasn't Ichiraku's or the very top of the
Hokage Monument that granted a scenic view of the entire
village, but this was a place he could unofficially claim
as his own. In the dense expanse of the hidden valley's
vast forest was a natural glade that he'd come across,
while exploring and it was perfect for training in private.
Pride was something that came packed with Naruto in spades
and it didn't like taking hits by people around him when he
wasn't good at something. It happened pretty often, sure,
but it didn't mean he liked it.
He wasn't afraid of hard work, but he sure as heck wasn't
going to train in the open and expose himself to a
situation where every mistake and failure on his part was
going to be used as fuel to ridicule him.
He'd prove them all wrong in the end though. Once he
attained the status of 'greatest ninja in all of Konoha' he
was going to show everyone that Naruto Uzumaki is not a
total failure and that "dead last" wasn't a tag that was
going to hold him back. He shook his head, quickly
derailing his current line of thought in favor of the
project that lay before him.
Naruto wore many hats, or a goggle in this case, that
described his character and personality to a tee.
Loudmouth, prankster, and general all-purpose troublemaker
extraordinaire were, but a few. Today he was "Naruto,
industrious builder."
A search of the forest had yielded him four fairly sturdy
logs that he'd dragged into the clearing. With a length of
hemp rope that he'd brought with him on this trip, he
busied himself with the task of lashing them together into
the vague semblance of a human figure. On completing that,
he went on to dig a small hole where he could slide the
vertical log into place to keep it steady.
Naruto wiped his sweat soaked brow with the sleeve of his
orange jacket and let out a tired, yet satisfied sigh, as
he gazed at his handiwork. It was taller than him by a
head or two, but it was perfect for the purpose it would
soon be serving. He glanced to his left at two others
projects that'd done him proud.
The first was a single post that jutted out of the ground.
It was about the width of two arms together, the top third
of which was wrapped in rope well worn with heavy use.
Naruto had built it so he could practice how to properly
strike a target with his fist and feet.
Walking up to it, he punched it squarely with a quick right
jab, sending the log reeling backwards, but it soon came
rocketing back at him and he blocked it with his left palm.
He struck it again, this time on its side, with a right
hook. It swung back in counter once more and he dodged it
this time around.
It was basic in design, but he loved the darned thing.
Naruto had wrapped the bottom half of the log with a series
of rubber inner tubes that would allow it to absorb each
blow before bouncing back, which forced him to either
parry, dodge, or counter strike.
He was actually entertaining the idea of attaching kunai to
random areas to up the ante, but that was going to be a
project for another day.
He moved his gaze next to the last training device. There
wasn't much to it at all, just a series of stationary
wooden targets of varying sizes, shapes, and set distances.
Naruto took off his jacket, which was still slick with the
efforts of his earlier exertions, and took a stance. A
quick motion to the bandolier on his leg produced two
shuriken and from a leg pouch he withdrew what looked like
a dagger attached to a length of wire that he used to twirl
it by.
The little instrument was a rope javelin, and it was a
handy little device he used to catch small animals when
he'd have to forage for food, which was why some of the
targets were so small and set low to the ground. The
entire weapon was smooth except for the head, which had a
series of serrated edges to make sure it couldn't be easily
removed. It was attached to a fishing line that led into
an actual spool assembly.
A deft flick of his wrists sent all three flying towards
their intended targets.
The steel bolt flew true with the nearly invisible line
trailing behind it as it punched into the side of a small
target about the size of a rabbit.
One of the four-pronged shuriken viciously imbedded itself
in the human-sized target at around where the throat would
be.
The second one though...
"Noooo!" Naruto howled in horror as he watched his precious
weapon veer into the dense foliage.
He made a move to go and retrieve his wayward tool, but
stopped. Reaching into a small pouch, where the wire from
the bolt fed into, he removed a fishing spool and set it on
the ground so it wouldn't tangle. Naruto then continued on
his "search and rescue" mission like a dutiful ninja.
Waste not, want not was a prudent proverb for the
financially challenged.
------------
Naruto was unaware that his performance of skill and labor
was not without spectator fanfare.
Hinata Hyuuga was a nice, respectable young lady, among
many things, but much to the vexing frustration of her
father, this also included closet voyeur.
Though this was a point of fact that, if pointed out, would
send the poor girl into a profusely crimson fit rife with
weakly sputtered denials and a fainting spell for good
measure.
She rather preferred likening the activity to star gazing
or even bird watching. Since those were more wholesome
analogies and closer to the reasoning in her mind than to
"lecherously leering in an unsavory manner."
Because that just wasn't the case at all.
Really.
From her spot, obscured behind a wide tree, Hinata was able
to cast her longing gaze across the t-shirt clad back of
her object of affection. A delightful tingle ran up her
spine when she caught sight of the boy's intense blue eyes
that were currently scanning hither and thither for his
quarry.
It was hard to say definitively whether this activity was
sadly pathetic, cute on a saccharine level, or disturbing
in some fashion, but what it could be classified as was
being typical.
It was merely an element in another ordinary day in the
Hidden Village of the Leaf and in following the oft-
practiced motions; it was time for Hinata Hyuuga to bid a
silent retreat without word or gesture.
Like always.
She noticed the ominous rumbling and rolling of clouds
overhead. It was a murky mixture of grey and dark grey
with intermittent splotches of black that forecasted
possibly inclement weather.
In the immortal words of a sagely ninja it could only mean,
signal, and possibly be one thing: troublesome.
------------
Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were many things as well.
Acquaintances, then friends, then best friends, then
friendly rivals, and then bitter rivals, finally ending
with them being friends once more, but still retaining the
mark of competitiveness born between their contentions.
At heart they were two very kind girls who cared for each
other. Even if yelling, the occasional hair pulling
session and fisticuffs conveyed meaning that the casual
observer could never quite pick up on. It was because
there was underlying complexity in each gesture that
carried shrouded meaning, intent, and depth that was beyond
simple reckoning.
It took Sakura about a week to come up with that reasoning.
Speaking of 'depth' and its distant phonetic cousin
'death'.
Ino was waging a valiant struggle against introducing her
pink-haired companion to a depth of water for a period of
time until death was achieved. That she didn't was a mind-
boggling testament to how long the road some traveled in
the name of friendship ran, current thoughts of bodily harm
notwithstanding.
It wasn't like Ino hated Sakura, far from it. The girl was
pleasant and they shared a wide range of interests that
made them fast and easy friends. There was just this
small drawback where the girl tended to ramble when she
got on a roll and could go on and on and on and on....
"So then, that's when he said 'You need to practice more
responsibility'" Sakura animatedly related, speaking in a
falsetto when she recanted the lines. "And I was thinking
to myself 'Oh my God. I can't believe he's trying to
lecture me on this' and I tried not to roll my eyes, but he
was all serious and a little mad, so he was breathing kind
of hard through his nose and this like whistling 'fwee'
noise came out of nowhere and I started laughing. So
anyway, that's why he gave me like this twenty page paper
to write on the proper customs of addressing elders and
superiors, but I got that done last night in like an hour
and- is something wrong?" Sakura finally asked, blinking at
Ino.
There was a bit of a pause without reply then, "Who?
What?" Ino said, startled from her mental stupor amid the
sudden and now hanging silence.
"Oh! No, uh, nothing is wrong, really!" She tried to wave
off Sakura's concerns when the girl gave her a worried
frown.
"I was just..."
'Dying. Whimpering. Falling asleep. Wondering if killing
you could be justifiable homicide,' her mind provided her
all at once.
"Wondering if a bit of Naruto had rubbed off on you," Ino
verbally parried with a nervous titter. Proud of that
little comeback, she mentally patted herself on the back.
Sakura wrinkled her nose at the thought, sporting a sour
countenance at the assertion. "I hope not," she shot back
as she rubbed both her cheeks in fear that six prominent
whiskers would soon sprout.
Ino felt a smidge guilty for using the boy as a butt of a
joke like that, but the concern passed as quickly as it had
come. She switched mental gears though by pointing to a
shop down a few stalls on the left. "Want to go check out
the fabric shop?"
"Sure," Sakura said, glad for the change in topic. "No
orange though," she told the blonde, sticking her tongue
out, which made Ino chuckle.
------------
Hinata had ducked into the nearest shop overhang when she
caught sight of Sakura and Ino. It wasn't as if she was
afraid of the pair, but they both possessed strong,
outgoing personalities that set her at unease and made her
feel inadequate. The latter being the greatest issue.
They walked right by her without so much as a glance or
greeting, but that suited Hinata just fine as she caught
the tail end of their discussion regarding Naruto.
There was a slight surge of annoyance at how casually they
referred to him in such a manner, like a joke. It was
slightly depressing that other people didn't quite see him
the way she did. There were times Hinata wished she could
more boldly give voice to her thoughts and opinions like
Naruto could when he wanted himself to be heard by those
around him.
Without care, strong, bold, self-assured, and-
"Interested in one of my fine works, dear?" an aged woman's
voice asked from behind her that caused her to flinch,
startled.
"I-I'm sorry?" Hinata asked embarrassedly, turning to
regard the speaker.
She was short, shorter than Hinata herself, yet not bent
over with age as she sat straight backed on her cushion
with legs pillowed under her. A stirring of wind sent
rebellious grey-white strands of hair loose and aflutter
from the pinned bun on her head, causing her to tut and
push them back behind her ears.
"See anything that catches your eyes?" she asked hopefully,
sweeping her right arm across a wide assortment of
decorated bamboo umbrellas that were arranged around her
shop as she held the frame for a still bare one in her
left.
"Ah, um," Hinata managed. She hadn't really paid attention
to what shop she'd entered and it wasn't as if she was
shopping for umbrellas in general, so...
"I'm just browsing for now," she offered, to which the old
woman nodded.
"This one here," she pointed out, "would suit you well, I
think."
Hinata nodded in agreement with the opinion. It was a soft
array of colors - red, orange, blue, purple - all a shade
you'd catch in the sky just as the sun dipped in the
horizon to make the transition from late afternoon to early
evening.
"Although this one here is a little bigger," the woman
began to say as a mischievous grin split her face, "so you
can fit a special 'friend' underneath as well if you wish."
Hinata admired the orange color, for rather obvious
reasons, but was also fascinated by the characters for the
twelve hand seals that adorned it in black.
When what the shopkeeper was suggesting penetrated her
thoughts, she grew flustered and flushed as she tried to
banish the attractive notion.
A cackle of amusement that scored victory for the old over
youthful innocence rang through the shop, leaving Hinata to
stew in embarrassment.
"Oh, I was blissful and chaste once as well," the old woman
addressed to Hinata, who chose to simply nod.
The thought of what was being suggested sent a hot flash of
thrill through Hinata, but the cold realization of her non-
existent standing with Naruto dampened the feeling, leaving
her feeling rather cheaply hollow.
Reality and realization tended to suck in that way.
Seeing the rather lackluster turn in her customer the woman
broke the silence. "I'll give it to you at half price,
dear," she began, and then on seeing Hinata about to
politely decline the offer, she raised a hand to forestall
it.
"You might want to reconsider," she pointed out, indicating
the soft sheet of precipitation that was beginning to fall
outside. "Your man might appreciate it," she added, to
what she hoped was the money shot.
The woman's words inadvertently directed Hinata's thoughts
to Naruto who might still have been practicing and it
sealed the deal.
"I'll take it."
------------
The staccato of flesh strikes on wood came at a steady,
even beat. It seemed deceptively passive; sounding musical
and rhythmic in nature, but it was what it was.
A knife hand to the side of the neck was followed by a
strike at the windpipe, which led into a swift punch into
the stomach, and then a double palm strike to the chest was
delivered.
Destructive.
It was a practiced sequence of attacks directed at just a
handful of vital points spread across the human body. The
effects of each target varied in degree, but all were
calculated to deliver incapacitation or death.
Such was the Way of the Ninja.
Naruto had been at this for over an hour and his hands were
beginning to show signs to vouch for the truthfulness of
the statement. He clenched his hands and hissed as he
discovered an almost inch long sliver of wood that had
driven itself through the side of his hand.
On one hand it was luckily large enough that he wouldn't
need the aid of tweezers to work it out, but that it was
that big was literally a pain.
"Damn it, that hurts!" he whined, after finally ridding
himself of the wood shard. He squeezed it to make sure
he'd gotten all the pieces, which forced more blood to exit
the wound, but a liberal application of spit and a vigorous
shaking of the hand later, it was quickly out of mind.
The sprinkling of moisture from the sky was still like a
light mist, so he figured he could go for a bit longer.
Just twenty minutes more, he promised, and then he'd call
it quits for the day.
------------
Ino parted company with Sakura when the rain began to fall
from the sky. Even if bad weather hadn't set in, the
relatively shallow depths of their wallet would've seen a
quick end to their respective shopping escapade. She was
convinced that it was just one of the glaring shortcomings
that would be addressed once they snagged themselves a
significant other.
The thought of growing old and grey with Sakura,
reminiscing about the "good old days" when they were once
young and beautiful made her shudder. Living out her days
as a lonely bachelorette was not an option in Ino
Yamanaka's social plan.
She'd be satisfied as long as her beau was mildly
attractive and housebroken. Ino was sure she possessed
enough skill to mold everything else about him until he
eventually resembled the ideal boyfriend.
Working at a flower shop, she was used to nurturing flowers
until they finally bloomed. So it was rather natural, in
her mind, to think the same of her future significant
other. Was it mentioned that Ino was also a fan of
projects that were a real fixer upper?
Bringing her musings to a brief pause was a droplet of rain
that fell onto her forehead. 'Oh yes, it was raining,
wasn't it?' she mused.
Ino considered her options. She entertained the notion of
sprinting from overhang to overhang, to dodge the brunt of
the rainfall, until eventually reaching home. Using her
charms and wily ways on a lonely male willing to treat her
to a warm drink and food in payment for her company crossed
her mind as well.
Ino crossed them all off as being a hassle, and chose
instead to look for someone who might be open to sharing
cover under an umbrella. A wide grin settled on her face
as she spied a familiar face approaching with uncanny
timing.
"Hey, Hinata, do you think I could--" she cut her request
short as the girl in question whizzed by her in a hurry
without even pause.
Ino blinked. Where could Hinata be going in such a hurry,
she wondered.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," she said aloud,
as she took off in pursuit. That she was getting soaked in
chasing Hinata became a trivial matter as quenching the
thirst of her curiosity became her top priority.
Hinata Hyuuga didn't know it yet, but she was caught in the
deadly crosshairs of an unrepentant gossipmonger and
unabashed meddler.
------------
By the time Hinata had returned to the clearing, the light
rain had escalated to a healthy downpour that had sent most
of the denizens of Konoha scurrying for the warm covers of
their respective homes.
'He can't still be here,' Hinata thought to herself as she
hurried towards the clearing, wondering why she herself
wasn't back comfortably under the roof of her own home.
The answer to that was simple though, requiring no real
thought - she just had to make sure.
And it was a good thing, she told herself as she spied
Naruto still standing in front of his wooden opponent.
His shoulders were slumped, he was drenched from head to
toe, but what worried her slightly was that he wasn't
really moving from his spot. He simply stood there in the
pouring rain and swayed unsteadily on his foot.
Concern won a quick, decisive battle over nervousness and
indecision as she found herself already just a few steps
behind the boy.
"N-Naruto?" she asked the rooted figure. Hinata wondered
for a moment if her soft voice had even carried over the
sound of the falling rain.
She moved to stand in front of him and she could finally
see that he was breathing heavily with soggy hair veiling
most of his features. In an uncharacteristically bold
move, she placed a hand on his shoulder and his eyes
fluttered open, focusing on her.
A detached portion of her mind marveled at how much
prettier they were when up close, but her addled mind spit
out a series of gibberish nonsense that she hoped sounded
like 'Are you okay?'.
Hinata stopped speaking when he flashed a weak smile, but
squawked in shock when his head lolled forward to rest
against her chest.
"Lied. More than twenty minutes..." he mumbled out, which
made no sense to Hinata, but at that point nothing made any
sense whatsoever.
Her umbrella had been dropped in favor of her current
burden, but now she was left to ponder what to do.
"Na-Naruto?" she asked.
He proved uncooperative to her efforts as he simply kept
his head against her-
Hinata turned a shade of red that bordered on burgundy.
"Hyah!" she yelped, as she fought the reflex to fling
Naruto away from her... water soaked...
She couldn't even finish the thought, so great was her
mortification.
"I-I," she stuttered as her legs then chose to wobble under
her and she began to lose her footing beneath Naruto's
weight.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Hinata called out rapidly in panicked
succession as her legs began to slide in the muck, leading
to a slow, meandering collapse that ended with her flat on
her back with the object of her affections atop her and her
legs spread, framing his body, in a lewd and scandalously
wanton fashion.
Hinata whimpered piteously.
Naruto snored softly totally unaware of the girl's plight.
------------
From her perch overhead in the treetops, Ino looked down on
the pair with eyes widened in surprise as she kept both
hands over her mouth so as not to allow a single sound to
escape her lips.
This was big, huge - monumental news!
'Hinata and Naruto!' her mind squealed over and over in
delight. If she wasn't trying to keep herself from being
discovered she'd be shaking in excitement at this juicy
piece of news she'd stumbled across. The feeling of
knowing a secret before anyone else filled her with a warm
and pleasant satisfaction.
She grumbled in silent disappointment, as she wasn't in
earshot to catch what the couple was whispering to each
other. Her eyes eagerly drank deeply of the whole sequence
of events and she had a fairly good idea on how this affair
was playing out.
Hinata approached Naruto and after a brief exchange of
words, he rested his head against her and she wrapped her
arms around him in response. She was hesitant at first,
going so far as to try to push Naruto away, but he was
adamant in his need for her as he gently guided her to the
forest floor where they were currently entangled. Hinata
wrapped her legs around Naruto and they were leading up
to...
The blonde's face took on a scarlet tinge as her mind
continued to progress her thoughts to its inevitable and
natural conclusion. Ino covered her face with her hands,
amazed, and embarrassed, at the boldness that Naruto
exhibited in showing his true feelings for Hinata. It re-
painted the mental image of the boy she had with new and
interesting colors.
There was a short mental argument over whether she should
stay or go now. As much as she wanted to know, she knew it
was wrong to intrude further on a private moment like this.
With that firmly in mind, she leapt away to leave the pair
to conclude their business sans prying eyes.
Ino would never have imagined her little adventure was
going to yield something of this magnitude. Her original
course towards home shifted in the direction of Sakura's.
She just HAD to tell someone about this before she exploded
from the pressure of trying to keep this secret bottled up
without release.
------------
Hinata bravely fought down the wellspring of tumultuous
emotions that was bubbling wildly on the threshold of her
control. Craning her neck slightly, she earned herself an
unobstructed view of Naruto's sleeping face, which made the
breath catch in her throat.
Hinata, being the honest girl that she was, admitted
guiltily that this wasn't an all-together negative
experience. She had a few memorable dreams like this she
recalled, though none had quite played out in the manner
this did.
A twinge of indecision flared inside her as she tentatively
brushed Naruto's golden forelocks. Hinata had never deeply
explored her feelings for him, save that she inevitably
found her eyes constantly drawn to him and that simply
being nearby made her pulse quicken with excitement.
Yet with her heart still enshrouded in turmoil, here she
was, caught in a compromising position with the source of
her consternation pillowed on her bosom. So it was no
wonder that she was caught up in playing hostess to the
conflicting thoughts that occupied her mind.
She closed her eyes and struggled with the effort to regain
a measure of calm. Her ragged breaths evened out and
became smoother as she wrestled extraneous thoughts to the
wayside. The why and the how of her heart weren't as
important as the simple fact that it simply felt the way it
did. The crude answer was: just because.
When she tried to imagine spending time with Naruto, gentle
warmth filled her every being. Imagining a world without
him sent an unpleasant tingle in her chest and formed a
cold lump in her gut. Thinking of the closeness they
shared now made her...
Well, there went the control.
Naruto muttered in his sleep, too garbled for Hinata to
pick anything out, but the movement set her eyes to focus
on his slightly parted lips. It seemed as if it was
intentionally calling to her like a deadly Siren's song.
Hinata found herself inexplicably mesmerized as she slowly
drew closer, inch-by-inch. She felt the touch of his warm
breath on her cheek and it was then that the butterflies in
the pit of her stomach took flight in full force. They
fluttered about wildly and she could've sworn they were
trying to exit through her navel.
The rainstorm lost all momentum and the clouds that
shielded the sky began to break as sunlight finally came
out of hiding to release the warmth that was being held in
check.
------------
Hinata was breathing heavy as she skidded to a halt from
the full out sprint that she'd broken out to. Her
destination was home, but first she needed time to collect
herself lest her father catch her in such a state and begin
asking questions she didn't want to answer.
She was currently swimming in the heady aftereffect of the
bold sequence on her part that surprised even her. It was
as if she'd tapped into a veritable fountain of boldness
that still hummed through her system now.
Dainty fingers were raised to her pink lips. 'Why did
I...?' she wondered, when a hand suddenly clapped her on
the shoulder from behind.
"Yo!" a familiar male voice called out jovially.
Jolting, she quickly turned with her hands placed over her
chest, to see Kiba. Behind him stood Shino and her
instructor Kurenai.
Her heart skipped a beat on seeing them all assembled like
this. 'Do they know?' her irrational mind whispered.
"Sorry," Kiba offered, at catching her so totally unaware.
"N-no, it's okay," she stuttered in assurance.
The nervousness that went beyond casual didn't go beyond
the notice of Shino and Kurenai, but a quirked brow by the
insect manipulator was the only visible indication.
"You seem... flustered," Shino pointed out flatly. His
gaze seemed to pierce through his sunshades, from Hinata's
point of view.
Hinata swallowed as her mouth ran dry. Well, what could
she say to that?
"And seem to be in quite a hurry," Kurenai added.
Hinata laughed uneasily, her voice almost cracking. Yes,
that was true, she granted.
Akamaru barked three times in succession as he sniffed the
air. "And you smell like Naruto?" Kiba said quizzically,
translating the words of the pup perched on his shoulder.
Hinata choked.
Kiba took his own whiff to be certain. "And you DO," he
confirmed, earning an amused look from Kurenai and yet
another raised brow from Shino.
Hinata squeaked.
"You know, I'm always here to talk, if there are things
you're too embarrassed to discuss with your parents,"
Kurenai told her, giving Hinata what she hoped was a
reassuring smile.
It wasn't. Hinata gibbered madly before deciding that
running was the better part of valor.
Taking her right into the metal pole of a street sign.
She wobbled drunkenly on her legs before dropping like a
fallen tree. Three voices called out to her in concern,
but the thought that occupied her mind was why things
weren't playing out like every other ordinary day.